“In my mind, I think it’s one of the best teams that played in our era of baseball. ... Our team from one to nine, we were unstoppable,” Dave Rozema said. “I thought maybe we could’ve won more.”

And their championship window slammed shut very quickly.

“Oh my gosh — we thought we’d be good for a long period of time. We thought we were built (for that), with a nucleus that was in their mid-20s,” Alan Trammell said. “Now, looking back, we found out how difficult it really is. You know what? At least I can say we won one.”

Advertisement

And it was 30 years ago this year.

That ‘championship window’ that they thought would be open for most of the 1980s in reality slammed shut.

“I thought we could’ve played with anybody for the next three, four years. ... Other teams were getting better,” Lou Whitaker said. “The Toronto Blue Jays, in ’84, they gave us a helluva run. They just better. The Toronto Blue Jays was the team to beat after ’85-’86. They were one of the best teams in the American League, position-by-position.”

It’s fleeting.

You win while you can.

Then you worry about the future later.

That’s the mindset you have to take when you’re trying to make that last move to get yourself over the top, find that last piece of the puzzle.

You can’t worry about the cost, in terms of prospects, and allow that to keep you from shoring up problem spots.

The two prospects are good: MLB.com’s top-10 list of Tigers prospects had them rated No. 3 and No. 5, respectively. Thompson was the team’s top pick in the 2012 draft, albeit in the second round, while Knebel was the second pick in last year’s draft, taken in the supplemental first round.

Neither of them ranks in MLB.com’s top 100 prospects in baseball, though.

Neither of them was going to help a ton this year, either.

Soria will.

He gives the Tigers another realistic option to use at the back end of games, whether it’s in conjunction with Joba Chamberlain in the eighth inning — where he pitched behind current Tigers closer Joe Nathan when both were with the Rangers last season — or as a replacement for Nathan, if push comes to shove, and the veteran can’t get it done.

Nathan will remain the closer for now, Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. At least now the Tigers have another option, if he doesn’t remain the closer for the rest of the season.

And he gives the Tigers another weapon to use come the playoffs.

That’s what it’s all about.

“No. If that’s what this club needs to win games,” Nathan said last week, when asked if he’d be upset if the Tigers brought in another closer-type in trade. “Like I said, we’re about getting to the playoffs, getting to the postseason, and ultimately winning this whole thing. That’s why I came over here, and that’s what I’m doing.”

When you’re in the position to win, you give yourself every advantage you possibly can to do so.

Because — like with the 1984 team — you don’t know when that window is going to come crashing closed.

With Max Scherzer, Victor Martinez, Chamberlain and Torii Hunter all free agents after the season, there’s no guarantee there’s another title run in the franchise after this season.

Ante up while you can.

The franchise did that in 1987, too, trading a Double-A pitcher for veteran Doyle Alexander, who helped the Tigers win the American League East. That young trade chip, as we all well remember, was John Smoltz.

Is that meant as a cautionary tale, saying be careful what you give up?

No. Not at all.

Just the opposite. You never know what you’re giving up, but it’s worth the risk, because you never know how many opportunities you’re going to get to win.

And, really, when was the last prospect that came back to haunt the Tigers, after they traded him away? Jair Jurrjens for a few years? Anyone else? Didn’t think so.

Could Knebel or Thompson come back to haunt the Tigers?

Possible.

Won’t matter if this is the deal that gets them over the top — or at least one of them.